Revelation 1:4b-8

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

⁷ Look, he is coming with the clouds,and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.  

⁸ "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Dear fellow citizens of Jesus’ kingdom,

 

            Three weeks ago we observed the festival of the Reformation of the Church, with an emphasis on standing firm on the promises and commands of God’s word.  That emphasis was derived from our lessons, primarily the Old Testament lesson from Daniel chapter 3 which is the account of the three Jewish men (Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego) living about 575B.C. in Babylon who were sentenced to a fiery death in a blast furnace for not bowing down and worshipping the golden image erected by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  They remained standing when the signal was given for all the government officials and workers, which they were, to fall down in worship to the image.  By ordering all his officials, both Babylonian and foreign, to worship that image, Nebuchadnezzar was making the statement that the gods of Babylon and he as king of Babylon were at the top of the world and in control.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew that wasn’t true; that there is only one true God who is Creator and Ruler of all.  The gracious God of Israel who reveals himself in his Scriptures is the all-powerful and glorious King over all the world.  He alone is to be worshipped.  Those three men knew that the LORD, their God had used Nebuchadnezzar and his empire as his instrument in chastising the chosen nation of Judah which had lost sight of the truth these three men knew.  Obviously, Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonians didn’t acknowledge that truth, either.  Neither have billions since then.

 

            But the day is coming when they will have to acknowledge that the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the God of Scripture, is the one and only Creator and Ruler of all!  That is one of the themes of this last Sunday in our Church Year, called Christ the King Sunday.  By God’s grace you’re acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as your King is not waiting for that last day of this world, that judgment day when the Lord Jesus returns “with the clouds” for everyone to see.  You’re not waiting to worship him as King of kings and Lord of lords on that day when every knee will bow before him, many simply out of fear of his judgment.  Instead, you worship now; and not out of fear of his judgment.  You worship him now as your King out of love and thanks for his life and death in your place that will bring you safely through his judgment.

 

            Since many forces are at work inside and outside of us attempting to have us bow down in worship before people and things other than Jesus our King, he gave a message to his people through his apostle John, called the Revelation.  That Revelation message encourages to keep doing what we’ve been doing.

WORSHIP JESUS, YOUR KING!

1.      Your gracious King.

2.      Your powerful King.

3.      Your glorious King.

 

There has never been a day of any person’s life when he or she hasn’t been under the rule

of a king.  Since Adam and Eve were flipped by Satan every descendant of theirs has been under the rule of that tyrant king.  Jesus called him “the prince of this world”.  He has power and influence and control.  Adam and Eve went willingly into that kingdom, choosing to disobey God.  Sadly, every one of us, their descendants is born into that kingdom and willingly stays there.  As did Adam and Eve, we think we find more enjoyment in our lives by doing things our way, in opposition to God’s ways.  But in doing things our way, we find ourselves ruled by other tyrants in addition to Satan.  We are gripped, often times controlled, by guilt and by fear of death and punishment.  And in this life, instead of finding joys and blessings, we find ourselves existing in a life full of turmoil in our marriages, our families and in every other relationship and endeavor.  Instead of being happy and blessed citizens of a perfect kingdom, we are slaves now and forever to agony and suffering. 

 

            The real King of this world who made us all should justly let us stay in that never-ending kingdom of destruction.  But he is our GRACIOUS King.  He can’t let that happen to us.  The Revelation is King Jesus’ letter to his faithful citizens in which he reminds us of his grace to us.  He began this section with the words “Grace and peace to you.”  He couldn’t leave us locked up and enslaved in everlasting suffering for our sins.  He took action for our good, even though we don’t deserve it.  That’s grace.  That’s love, real love.  That’s what a real King does.  He loves his people.   And real love is more than just a feeling; it’s action.  Our gracious King, he says here, “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood”!  By his blood – that’s a quick way of saying he gave up his life for us.  In living a sinless human life in place of each of us and in allowing it to be punished for us, Jesus was “the faithful witness”.  In person and action he told us, he testified to us how much our heavenly Father loves us.  In taking back his life he became “the firstborn from the dead”, assuring us that our rising from death to life will follow.  That’s what a gracious King does!  That what our King Jesus has done for us!  How blessed we are to be part of that kingdom of grace!  He goes on to say that he “has made us a kingdom” – we live under the rule of a good and gracious King who is interested in our eternal welfare.  He has made us “priests to serve his God and Father” – we get to be in his presence.  Priests are the “go-betweens” between God and his people.  Jesus gives us direct access to the Father!  This is why you worship Jesus, your King:  because he is your GRACIOUS King! 

 

            But we have even more reason to worship Jesus, our King when we add that he is our POWERFUL King.  What an incredible combination for our good; his grace and his power!  Jesus used in this section several phrases to remind us that he is our powerful King.  A couple of them sound strange.  But they emphasize the point he makes clearly at the end of our section: your King Jesus is the Lord Almighty! 

 

            At the beginning of our section (verse 4) Jesus refers to God the Father as “him who is, who was and who is to come.”  Jesus applies that description to himself at the end of the section (verse 8).  Jesus is one with and equal to the Father (and the Holy Spirit, referred to by the phrase “the seven spirits around his throne”).  In his power, our King Jesus is not confined by time or space; he is eternal.  He is unchanging. 

 

            He is also the Source of all.  Everything revolves around him!  He is all we need!  He said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega.”  Later in the Revelation Jesus explained that a little bit.  He said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Rev. 22:13).  As we observe our Thanksgiving Day this week, these words remind us of the Source of all the good things we have now and in eternity.  He makes the sun rise and set to give warmth to our world.  He makes the precipitation fall to cause life to grow.  He exerts his power for your benefit!  Here at St. Stephen’s we are reminded of Jesus our powerful King every time we look at this altar, for there on the left and the right sides are those first and last letters of the Greek alphabet (A  W).  It is his grace and power working together that make us his “kingdom and his priests, having freed us from our sins by his blood”.  His grace caused him to put his power to work for our eternal good.  It took the power of God to conceive an innocent human life in the womb of the virgin Mary.  It took the power of God to withstand the temptations of the “prince of this world” and to endure the punishment for our sins without complaint.  It took the power of God to take back life after giving it up on that cross.  All this that we might “live under him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness”!

 

            And it is that power that has turned our hearts away from a love of sin to a love for our God and his righteous ways!  That power, his good news of forgiveness and eternal life, is the power that gives you confidence every day about your eternal future.  It powers you to live each day as a citizen of heaven when it looks like the “prince of this world” is in total control and that this world is racing headlong to hell.  What confidence and strength are yours when you daily worship Jesus your powerful King – “the ruler of the kings of the earth” (v. 5).  The day is coming when that will be clear to everyone.  He says, “he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples will mourn because of him.  So shall it be!  Amen” (v. 7).  At that time everyone will see him as YOUR GLORIOUS KING.

 

            To be glorious is to be deserving of and to receive praise and honor (worship).  That day when Jesus will be praised and honored by every soul is coming.  As we said before, not everyone will honor him out of love and thanks; rather, some out of fear.  He himself said to some people of his day that on that day they will cry out to him “Lord, Lord,” recognizing him finally as the Savior and Judge of this world.  But it will be too late.  To them he says the response will be, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23).  That day will be a day of glory, when Jesus receives all the praise and honor (worship) due him.  For that reason he is your glorious King.

 

            But Jesus is your glorious King even now!  Now he receives honor and praise, our worship!  Daily, citizens of his heavenly kingdom who still live in this world glorify him.  By his grace and power we are already his “kingdom and priests”.  Therefore, all that we say, think and do is to glorify him.  Many are the commands of His word to worship, to glorify, to praise, to honor him NOW.  Now, before that great and glorious Day of the Lord arrives, we are to worship him, “making” Jesus our GLORIOUS King.  St. Paul wrote to the “kingdom” in  Corinth, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).  To the “kingdom and priests” living in Rome about 55 A.D. he gave the command, “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – which is your spiritual WORSHIP” (Romans 12:1).  This worship, this glorifying of your King Jesus takes place in our homes, in our schools, at our workplaces when we live as citizens of his kingdom, joyfully doing what our King in his word says is good and right.   

            Our King lived this life for us.  He knows the obstacles and challenges of living in this world as citizens of his heavenly kingdom.  He knows the power of the evil one and the deceit he uses to make this world and its activities and “pleasures” seem better (more fun) than a life lived Jesus’ way.  That’s why he gave the Revelation through John; to remind us to hang on.  To keep living here the way the citizens of heaven live.  To keep living that way knowing that Jesus is the “ruler of the kings of the earth”.  To daily, in thought, word and action worship Jesus, Your King, your gracious, powerful and glorious King!